Secuestro express (2005)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Jonathan Jakubowicz

Writer:

Jonathan Jakubowicz (writer)

Release Date:

10 March 2006 (Mexico)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Young couple Carla (Maestro) and Martin (Leroux) are abducted by three men and spend a terrifying night in Caracas as they wait for Carla's father (Blades) to hand over the ransom.

Plot Keywords:

Caracas | Drugs | Money | Ransom | Gay

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Mía Maestro	...	Carla
Rubén Blades	...	Carla's Father
Carlos Julio Molina	...	Trece
Pedro Perez	...	Budu
Carlos Madera	...	Niga Sibilino
Jean Paul Leroux	...	Martin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dalila Colombo
Elba Escobar	...	Drugstore Cashier
Dimas González	...	Guardia
Miguel Ángel Landa	...	Police's Councilor.
Balmore Moreno	...	Oficial Briceno
Ermahn Ospina	...	Marcelo
Rider	...	Cangrejo

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, drug use, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

USA:86 min | Argentina:90 min

Country:

Venezuela

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Venezuela:PG-13 | Argentina:16 | Ireland:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Italy:VM14 | Singapore:R21 | Greece:K-13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Caracas, Venezuela

Company:

Tres Malandros

Trivia:

Other than Mia Maestro and Ruben Blades, the entire cast of the movie is of non professional actors. They did six months of rehearsals to get to the level we see on screen.

Quotes:

Trece: What's your father's do?
Carla: He is a doctor.
Budu: Doctor? The truth. Tell the truth!
Carla: He works at Clinica Caracas.
Trece: His name?
Carla: Sergio.
Niga Sibilino: Sergio what?
Budu: ...and yours?
Carla: Gutiérrez. Carla Gutiérrez.
Trece: It's true, it's true, OK, OK. Where do you live?
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soundtrack:

War Dogs

Terrible resolutions (both video and plot-wise)

The video quality in Secuestro Express is truly disappointing from the very beginning. The movie starts with blurry images of shanty towns in Caracas, I thought the blur was an intentional effect, and maybe perfect in-focus images were soon going to kick in, showing in sharp details the "ranchos and cerros", but nope... detail never arrived, the video quality was actually as bad as what I was thinking could be a blur special effect. Gave it the benefit of the doubt thinking it could be the theater's fault, but once again nope: letters in Twisted-Metal-Black evoking style started popping up on screen naming each character in the movie, and those letters were decently sharp and in focus. So it wasn't the theater but the film, no doubt. Thumbs down to extremely poor video quality.

Good points: acting of some of the bad guys, some of them were believably bad guys in some occasions, not in all occasions though. Overall cursing and foul language was also very realistic and spot-on. The girls acting was also good in some occasions, but not in all as well though. A nice aesthetic touch right before the nightmare, the song by Soledad Bravo in the drugstore was particularly beautiful.

Bad points: rich vs. poor philosophizing in the movie was extremely lame. Also, making the rich girl of a wealthy young couple in Caracas a generous and selfless/sacrificed voluntary nurse is pushing her character "just a bit", to say the least. To my surprise, acting of Ruben Blades was rather lame. Acting of the boyfriend I think was also extremely lame. Some of the unexpected twists in the movie seemed a little forced and extreme. That's completely subjective of course, just my impression. At the end, pervert cops nightmare possibility saved by a pseudo heroic act of one of the bad guys was also rather forced and imho lame, very unnecessary.